A World's Fair relic now has a fresh coat of paint--bringing the “Tent of Tomorrow” back to its former glory. NY1's Clodagh McGowan filed the following report.

A new paint job is now the crowning glory of the New York State Pavilion Building.

"It took years to get started, only took some months to complete and now it's preserved for the next generation," said Kieran Ahern, the president of the New York Structural Steel Painting Contractors Association.

Thirty bridge painters donated more than 8,000 hours to paint the top of the pavilion.

Work on the $3 million project was done pro-bono through a union apprenticeship program. Ahern says it was his late father Timothy's idea to help restore the pavilion.

Timothy died in July just before the work was complete.

"He would have loved it. He actually was the one here running this project, I joked with everybody, going I put my best project manager on it, my dad. So, he was here almost every day, working with the guys and he's the one who made sure it got done before the US Open started," said Ahern.

Parks staff and elected officials celebrated the facelift Thursday.

"The New York State Pavilion has officially now been saved. We're going to stop talking about saving it," said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

In addition to the fresh coat of paint, there's also a $650,000 design contract in the works for electrical and structural improvements.

"Once that survey is done we'll be able to go forward and start doing some real work, to start preserving the towers as well," said Dorothy Lewandowski, the Queens Parks Commissioner.

"We're going to have steps along the way, to make sure that people really do see the advancement," added Katz.

The New York State Pavilion Paint Project crew is proud of how far it has come.

The group of volunteers started donating time and money to paint the signature red stripes on the building six years ago--bringing attention to the relic from the 1964 World's Fair.

"This was laying dormant for 50 years almost and it shows that with love, for something that you want to do, look what could be done," exclaimed

John Piro, the co-founder of the New York State Pavilion Paint Project.

If you'd like to tour the pavilion, it will be open to the public this weekend as part of Open House New York.

For more information head to ohny.org​.